Earlier this year I had made some big decisions in my life. I am at that time in college where I need to start thinking about what I want to do. Should I go to graduate school? Should I move away for my career? What do I even want to do? I knew for a fact that I wanted to travel. I wanted to get out of the states and see the world. But I also knew I wanted to help people. My dream was always to somehow change the world. Yes, I know that that’s most peoples dreams, everyone wants to change the world, but I don’t care how big or small that change is as long as there was some lasting impact. I wanted to leave my footprint on this earth. I wanted proof that I had once lived here. So after extensive research and planning out what I want my future to hold I decided that I wanted to join the Peace Corps.

When you hear Peace Corps you usually think of peaceful and hippie-like people. Hippies aren’t necessarily the long braided, tie dye wearing, pot smoking high school dropouts that many people believe thanks to shows like South Park. But, rather, they are people who believe in peace, love and happiness. Obviously some are more extreme than others. So when I told my friends this idea and they called me a hippie I was kind of offended by their arrogance because I knew they had a negative connotation with that word. I was told that I was wasting my talents and that I was too smart to just run off to Africa and not use my intellect. I didn’t realize that my wanting to help people in third world countries was such a bad thing. I wanted to get immersed in other cultures and learn and understand how other people think and live their everyday lives.

Somehow the Peace Corps gets a bad rep and I’m not sure why. I don’t know where kids our age get this idea that it’s so terrible to want to do things like this. The Peace Corps offers amazing opportunities and even helps out with your education. Now you have to have had four years of college or five years of work experience to apply, but in many cases they can help pay off your loans. They cover your travel expenses and each month you get two paid vacation days to go exploring and traveling while you are abroad. This also opens a lot of career opportunities for you and at many schools returned Peace Corps volunteers get reduced payment for graduate school.

I think this is not a choice to be taken lightly and to sign up for on a whim; however, I think that it would be beneficial to a lot of people and I wish more people ere open to it. We are all content living in our little bubble and I think that we need to open up and explore the possibilities outside our comfort zone. Also not stereotype people based on their beliefs and goals; most people have good intentions and your judgment can really have a negative impact on their dreams.